Last night at the Greenwich House School of Music's Uncharted Series (where I am doing a residency through April), guitar legend Marc Ribot and Haitian songstress Emeline Michel paid tribute to Haitian classical guitar icon (and Ribot's mentor) Frantz Casseus in a gorgeous night of music. The evening had the feel of a school recital in the very best sense, not just because it took place in a music school, but because Ribot's concentration was intense--his playing just slightly out of his comfort zone--and the audience was filled with family, friends and supportive listeners. It was the Uncharted Series at its best, a real dedication and commitment to the challenging pursuit of a musical ideal, slightly out of reach but completely within the grasp of masters.
Sequential Art /
The Conversation. /
Alden has begun talking without words. He looks directly at me and goes on at length about whatever's on his mind, long meditations, short observations, tart dismissals and joyful bursts. I do my best to respond. "Oh, yeah?" I say. "Is that right?" I ask. He smiles or sighs or looks away, translating from pure feeling, making music from intonation, letting me know what he's thinking without the refinement of language...
Paint /
Last night, after sunset, our new studio mate, Paul Loren, and I accidentally painted this Hassidic man into our studio wall. He asked Paul and I to please turn off his lights, so we painted over him.
Employee of the Month with Catie Lazarus: March Edition /
Liz Tuccillo ("He's Just Not That Into You", "Sex And The City") Syd Butler (Late Night With Seth Meyers) and Cynthia Nixon (come on, like I have to tell you) were the guests at last night's Employee of The Month Show at Joe's Pub . I drew this on stage during the show. Catie says I always make her look like a muppet. I say, only God can make a muppet.
Uncharted at Greenwich House, Week 2: SLV /
Abstractions /
Just before midnight last night,on my walk back from the studio, I crossed 4th place along Court as the stop-light was changing from yellow to red. A soccer mom van going along Court sorta missed the change and rolled into the middle of the intersection and just stopped for the full length of the light. No traffic came as the van in the middle of the intersection waited for the light to turn green.
Carrots For The Masses /
A Weimar era cartoon I made that's just as relevant now as it was the day I drew it.
Saturday Morning Cartoon /
Harps /
The Uncharted series began at Greenwich House in the West Village last night with a performance by Harpist Brandee Younger (center), accompanied by Mia Theodoratus (on the second harp, far right) and Courtney Bryan on Piano.
The uncharted series features artists debuting new work--myself included. You can check out the full list of performers here. My contribution is six mounted prints of drawings I've been working on at my studio, drawings I've never shared on social media--in fact, they've really not been seen outside of my work space. Well, one of them went viral on Flickr a ways back, but the rest are unseen. If you want to check them out, you'll have to go to Greenwich House! The new drawings are experiments I've been doing with cartoons and stories that aren't really cartoons and stories. You'll understand when you go and check them out!
I'll also be drawing live every week before the show starts and then capturing the performance in a drawing. I'm looking forward to eight weeks of inspiring innovations amongst some fantastic musicians!
Spring Cleaning /
Walking to the studio today, Alden was sporting his sunglasses and looking around at the world as we passed. He's pretty much been an indoor baby since he was born in late November. It's been a long cold stretch with plenty of rain and snow and it's a welcome relief to wander the black slush of Brooklyn in the thaw.
"He looks pretty cool," said a woman over by Court Street Grocers.
"He's just glad to get out," I said for us both.
The Bird Watcher /
This is an "out-take" from my Armory Show series for Vanity Fair.
It didn't really happen--it's a juxtaposition of a drawing I was trying to get of an elderly man with his camera wandering and shooting the art and a bird I heard singing up in the rafters of the pier. It was a bare bones line drawing that I abandoned the other day--sometimes that happens when I'm trying to capture something and I get distracted or it just doesn't work in the moment--but I finished it this morning for fun. A cartoon of a scene that didn't happen but could have . . .
My Drawings of the Armory Show 2015 featured at Vanity Fair /
My drawings of this year's Armory Show are up now at Vanity Fair. check them out here!
Wintry Mix /
Another day in a winding down winter that keeps ratcheting up. Laura works the morning shift today and I head out this afternoon. Alden's just stirring from his first nap, ready to face another day of staying in. This year, Spring will mean my boy gets to be outside for longer than a few minutes. It can't get here soon enough.
Sideways Glance /
Past Present /
Been doing some studio cleaning lately and came across this drawing from 2008. Drawn, late one night when I was home alone and my eyes fell on a nearby DVD case.
The minstrel face remains a powerful, if subliminal, marketing tool. Our history hides in plain sight, sitting there everyday, looking back at us.
Just saying…
You, You and Me /
Out at sea, you, you and me
Out at sea is where we'll be
We'll get there with each setting sun
We'll find our way when day is done . . . .
#Artist /
I've been thinking a lot lately about the overlap between art, comics, illustration and drawing. I don't have much to say about that right now, but I've been thinking about it a lot.
Anyone who follows me on Tumblr or Instagram (where I am "Inklines") will see that I overly hashtag my posts--I leap right into what my friend Stefan Bucher calls the "#hashtagmoshpit". #Art, #comics, #comicart, #cartoon, #cartoonart, #drawing, #sketchbook, #sketch, #illustration and #comix. That's me.
Years ago, soon after I moved to NYC, before the age of hashtags, I took my drawings into a gallery where the owner dismissed them as "illustrations." "What's the difference between art and illustration?" I asked naïvely. He explained that an illustrator might wake up in the morning and get an assignment to draw a giraffe and, because it was an assignment, it was an illustration. An artist might wake up and draw the same giraffe but, because the artist simply drew it, that made the giraffe art.
"No one tells me what to draw," I told the guy.
Day Jobs /
Today's the day Laura returned to work. "I'm feeling very emotional," she said this morning before she left us to our own devices. Alden and I are flying solo together, without Mommy, without partner, until late this afternoon when Laura gets back.
These first three months of Alden's life have been eventful with long days and nights of desperate discovery and quiet wonder, but the time has passed in a moment. "What's it like?" I'm asked when I run in to friends. Well, it's all deep experience right now; the answer is too opaque for the 24 hour news cycle and it's larger and simpler than the length of a tweet.
Today's the day Laura went back to work. Alden's sleeping. I'm gonna take a shower. That's my update.
